More than 18 million pounds of hazardous explosives are still sitting in bunkers at Camp Minden in Louisiana, after an explosion happened there more than two years ago. Officials haven't agreed on how to clean up the wartime leftovers, but they have decided not to burn them in the open air.
A handout photo of the scene of an explosion at Camp Minden in Louisiana in October 2012, after which 18 million pounds of unstable hazardous material was discovered. Webster Parish residents and others said they would not shy from a confrontation if authorities proceed with a plan to openly burn an abandoned stockpile of M6 propellant left at the camp since the private contractor that owned it declared bankruptcy. (Louisiana National Guard via The New York Times)
Do you want to see more stories like this published? Click here to help Truthout continue doing this work!
More than 18 million pounds of M-6 artillery propellant and other hazardous explosives are still sitting in bunkers at the Camp Minden military ...

It's been two years since investigators discovered 15 million pounds of M-6 artillery propellent illegally and haphazardly stored at Camp Minden. (Photo: Concerned Citizens of the Camp Minden Explosives Open Burn )On January 15, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Louisiana state officials would have an extra 90 days to choose a contractor and a disposal method for cleaning up M-6 propellant, 15 million pounds of which was illegally stashed at Camp Minden by a private US Army contractor and discovered after a massive explosion rocked the area two years ago. The extension would give authorities time to consider alternatives to the original plan - burning the waste in open trays at the site.
Opposition to the so-called "open burn" had reached a fever pitch. In December, a local scientist pointed out that chemicals within the M-6 have been linked to cancer and birth defects. Fearing that pollutants from the open burn would enter the air unabated, concerned citizens launched a campaign to ...

A locked gate and warning sign at the Camp Minden military facility near Minden, Louisiana. Fearing cancer-causing pollution, local residents are opposing an EPA plan to burn 15 million pounds of hazardous artillery munitions waste in open "burn trays" at Camp Minden. (Photo: Mike Ludwig)
Two years after a blast signaled danger at a Louisiana munitions bunker, the EPA is set to oversee the hazardous, open burning of 15 million pounds of explosives, and neighbors are demanding it come up with an alternative plan for all such dumps around the country.
A locked gate and warning sign at the Camp Minden military facility near Minden, Louisiana. Fearing cancer-causing pollution, local residents are opposing an EPA plan to burn 15 million pounds of hazardous artillery munitions waste in open "burn trays" at Camp Minden. (Photo: Mike Ludwig)
Melissa Downer remembers the evening of October 15, 2012, well. She was kenneling her dogs for the night outside her family home in Minden, Louisiana, when she heard a loud ...

Peter Janicki's Omni-Processor is a steel machine converts high volumes of human waste---up to 14 tons a day---into electricity and water, while eliminating all pathogens. Next month, the Gates Foundation team will travel to Dakar, Senegal in Africa to rebuild the Omni-Processor to see how it fares within the ...

(Image: Compost pile via Shutterstock)
When the people of Hernani, Spain, began a residential compost system, they weren’t looking to become heroes of the movement for climate justice. Like thousands of other towns around the world, they were simply looking for an alternative to incineration and the pollution it brings.
Hernani is located in Basque country, in the province of Gipuzkoa. In 2002, the Gipuzkoa landfill was nearly full, and the provincial government proposed building two new incinerators to burn the trash. The citizens of Hernani and other municipalities of the province immediately joined together in opposition . In a particularly impressive action, hundreds took the streets for what they called a “zero waste flash mob dance.”
Not only did Hernani fight the incinerator plans (and very creatively), they also began implementing zero waste strategies that would help eliminate the need to burn or bury waste at all. Within a few years, Hernani became a center of composting excellence.
To start, ...

Flashy tribunal on a rooftop. See lineatus' diary .
Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) normally appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The most recent Saturday Spotlight can be seen here . More than 20,260 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Lima: Climate FairShares Tool Debuts —by boatsie: "Civil society groups yesterday launched a new online-tool providing the stark details of just how limited the space in the world's Carbon Budget remains and detailing what amount of space each country is allocated under UN Terms relative to "pollution targets and finance transfers" in the battle to combat climate change. The infographic is designed from a ...

This is part 2 of a four-part article series "Cultivating Climate Justice" which tells the stories of community groups on the frontlines of the pollution, waste and climate crises, working together for systems change. United across six continents, these grassroots groups are defending community rights to clean air, clean water, zero waste, environmental justice, and good jobs. They are all members of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, a network of over 800 organizations from 90+ countries.
This series is produced by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Other Worlds
"To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change.... I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian Ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice ...

This is part 2 of a four-part article series "Cultivating Climate Justice" which tells the stories of community groups on the frontlines of the pollution, waste and climate crises, working together for systems change. United across six continents, these grassroots groups are defending community rights to clean air, clean water, zero waste, environmental justice, and good jobs. They are all members of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, a network of over 800 organizations from 90+ countries.
This series is produced by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Other Worlds
"To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change.... I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian Ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice ...

Given that climate change is causing increasing extreme weather, better waste management actually helps to prevent events like Super Typhoon Yolanda, which killed more than 6,000 people in the Philippines.

Zero waste alliances are forming all over the world and making great strides toward building a new kind of economy that is good for people and the planet. Zero waste encompasses the full lifecycle of our stuff, starting with reduced extraction and responsible product design, and ending with all materials being reused, recycled, or composted.
If you value media that isn’t controlled by advertisers or billionaire sponsors, show your support today! Donate to Truthout now to keep independent media strong.
The streets of Belo Horizonte were filled with singing, dancing, chanting, and marching. It was not a holiday or an election day or a soccer game. The chant was: "We don't want incineration! Recycle! Recycle!"
It was September 19, 2014, and this was the launch of a national Zero Waste Alliance, Brazil style. Exuberant, celebratory, and led by recycling workers.
The recycling workers of Brazil have long been a powerful force in protecting their communities and the climate. Now they are on the forefront of a ...

The Fargo operator of a medical waste incinerator would only accept Ebola-contaminated waste from other states after careful consideration, and it doesn't currently have any plans to do so, company officials said.

The Fargo operator of a medical waste incinerator would only accept Ebola-contaminated waste from other states after careful consideration, and it doesn't currently have any plans to do so, company officials said.

This story originally appeared in Grist and is republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Since the 2008 election and the subsequent rise of the Tea Party movement, the Republican Party has moved far right on energy and environment issues. Politicians who once accepted climate science have decided that they actually don't. Congressional Republicans have voted to cut funding for the EPA and its programs, to prevent federal agencies from studying climate change, and to revoke EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
Environmental groups that want to demonstrate their bipartisanship haven't been left with many Republicans to support. In this election cycle, Maine Sen. Susan Collins stands out. She unequivocally accepts climate science. In 2009, she cosponsored a "cap-and-dividend" bill to limit emissions with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). She is the only Senate Republican to vote against preventing EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. (But she did vote to block EPA climate ...